Trusting the Beast
by Anybodysdaughter
Summary: Mr. Bingley leases Netherfield but his friend does not join him. In fact, Mr. Darcy seems to have disappeared, until Lizzy and the Gardiners visit Pemberley on their summer trip, and Lizzy unwillingly uncovers a secret she will have to pay for. Inspired by Beauty and the Beast. WIP
1. Prologue

**A/N: I know I use italics too frequently, but if the italics are a whole sentence it's because it's Darcy's thoughts, otherwise it's for emphasis. Hopefully it won't get too confusing. Please review and let me know what you think (about everything, not just the italics). Thank you!**

June 1811

His heart almost stopped when he saw them. That _scoundrel_ wrapping his arms around his sister as if he possessed her.

"Get away from her!" he growled, dragging Wickham away. Though he may have been stronger in his rage, it seemed as though the man left Georgiana's side much too willingly.

"Brother, no!"

"Georgie, he cannot be trusted! Do you remember what he did to Father?"

"He has changed, Fitzwilliam!" Her hands were clasped in front of her chest, begging him. "He loves me, a-and I love him!"

"NO!" He rounded on her companion. "What have you done? How could you allow this to happen?"

Mrs. Younge smiled coldly back at him. "I would do much for my brother, as I suspect you would for your sister, _sir_."

"Your— _brother_?" he said, shaking. It was clear to all in the party that he was losing control of himself. "I trusted you. I _trusted_ you. What have I done?" The weight of his guilt washed over him.

 _If only I hadn't trusted Mrs. Younge. If only I hadn't let Georgiana out of my sight. If only I had put Wickham in jail. If only I had told my father of his ungentlemanlike ways at Cambridge. If only I…_

The sound of his sister's sobs brought his mind back to the present. He moved forward to comfort her. "Georgie…" she shrunk from his touch as if he had burned her.

"Why could you not let us be happy?" she cried.

"Georgie, sweet pea, he does not love you." She stepped toward him, but not for comfort.

"How do you know? _You weren't here_." Her blue eyes were flashing at him in anger, but it was offset by the quiver of her chin as she struggled to keep her tears in check.

"Well I should have been. I do not know why I entrusted you to a relative stranger. Clearly that was a mistake. As was your trust in Wickham. Do you want to know how I know he doesn't love you?" He pulled out his checkbook and began writing a check.

Wickham, previously trying to slink out of the group unnoticed, promptly became conspicuous again. By the time Darcy finished writing the check, Wickham was standing at his shoulder, examining the check with interest. Georgiana burst into tears as Wickham snatched the check from his hands and left with Mrs. Younge without so much as a look at his 'love'. And he could do nothing to comfort her. _Why has this happened? What have I done?_

He turned toward Wickham and yelled to him, "We will never see you again Wickham! We will never hear from you, and you will never talk about this, or I will ruin you!" It was a desperate move, and he hoped it would be enough. He had to protect Georgiana's reputation.

Little did he know that his own reputation would suffer for this comment.


	2. Chapter 1: Meeting the beast

May, 1812

Elizabeth Bennet looked around her in awe. She and her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner had visited many great houses in the past few weeks during their summer trip to the peaks, but this one was perfection. With all of Caroline Bingley's raptures over Pemberley she had expected something quite different. Elizabeth thought that perhaps this could be the only place in the world in which their tastes agreed. The grounds enticed Elizabeth from the beginning of the ride through Pemberley Woods, and she did not think she could forget the happy situation of the house atop a small rise above the lake.

Elizabeth and her Aunt and Uncle were only allowed to view parts of the large house, as Miss Darcy was in residence at the moment, but what they were able to see was beautiful. Every room was decorated with good taste and gave the large rooms a cozy feeling that the other grand houses had not been able to accomplish. In many of the rooms, the windows had gorgeous views over the gardens and grounds.

 _It is no wonder Caroline wishes to marry Mr. Darcy_ , she thought to herself. _I'm sure many women would._ She laughed to herself at the thought. _A pity he seems to have disappeared then._

When the tour had finished, Elizabeth asked the Gardiners if they would allow her to walk the grounds and return to Lambton by herself. "I can follow the road back when I am ready, so there is little chance of getting lost," she pleaded when the Gardiners shared a glance.

"Alright, Lizzy, you can walk, but please be careful. We will expect you for supper."

"Thank you, Uncle! I will meet you soon."

"If you please, Miss," the housekeeper interrupted. "The woods are no place for a young lady to be wandering by herself. There are beasts living in these woods, and we make it a practice to always walk in pairs. May I recommend someone to walk with you to Lambton?"

The Gardiners looked at their niece, who was determined to walk the grounds in any case.

"We would be much obliged to you, ma'am, thank you," replied Mrs. Gardiner, looking relieved.

The housekeeper returned a few minutes later followed by a young handsome girl wearing much finer clothes than any of them had expected from a maid. She was taller than the housekeeper, with dark hair pulled into a beautiful chignon, and a nervous look in her blue eyes. A thought flitted through the back of Elizabeth's mind: _Was it really that dangerous on the grounds to warrant this nervous look?_

"This is Miss Georgiana Darcy," the housekeeper started. Elizabeth's heart sank. The mistress of the house was here to deny her the permission to walk the grounds. "She will be accompanying Miss Bennet on her walk, and I will send the carriage to bring her back from Lambton."

Elizabeth was surprised, but smiled gently at Miss Darcy. "Shall we be off then? Where are your favorite places to go, Miss Darcy?"

"Please, call me Georgiana. I have many favorite areas of Pemberley, but I will try to only show you the ones near the road so that you are back by supper time."

"And you must call me Elizabeth. So, Georgiana, do you have any interest in music?"

Georgiana answered to the affirmative, and they continued to talk of music and the surrounding landscape as they walked. Elizabeth told her of her family, her four sisters and her life in Hertfordshire, but did not receive any information about Georgiana's family in return. Georgiana asked if they could begin a correspondence, and Elizabeth agreed. Her new friend was shy, but had a budding wit, and Elizabeth worried that Georgiana was lonely in this enormous, albeit beautiful, house. She hoped her letters would be some sort of reprieve.

The day was very beautiful, and Georgiana showed Elizabeth a beautiful stream that ran through the property a few minutes before they reached a clearing with a cave to one side.

Georgiana gasped as she looked around the clearing. "We should not be here. We need to leave, now. I should have been more careful about the direction we were heading."

"Why, are we in the wrong direction?" Lizzy responded with some concern for her new friend. "Or is this the source of the danger in Pemberley woods?"

The fact that Georgiana only nodded and grasped her hand told Lizzy the latter was true.

"Then we shall be very quiet, my friend," she whispered to Miss Darcy, turning around silently.

But no sooner than the words had left her mouth did a large, black, hairy thing block their path back. Lizzy felt she now understood Mrs. Reynold's vague description of "beasts", because she could not distinguish what kind of animal it was even at this close range. Most of the animal was covered in long, curly black hair, but the face and chest were somewhat lighter in color than the rest of the body. Dark brown eyes, almost humanoid and clearly full of anger and some other emotion Elizabeth could not identify, stared back at her before the creature reared on its hind legs, roared, and made to swat at her. Lizzy quickly pulled Georgiana out of the way behind a tree as Georgiana cried out. Lizzy quickly clamped a hand over her friend's mouth and motioned to be silent. She looked from side to side, barely allowing her to turn her head as she pressed her and Georgiana's bodies to the tree trunk in an effort to hide from the beast as she thought about what to do. They could climb the tree, but there was no telling what this beast's abilities were, and there were less escape routes from a tree, and she couldn't be sure about Georgiana's tree climbing abilities either.

She could hear the beast breathing on the other side of the tree and wondered briefly why it hadn't attacked them again yet. The thought was indeed brief because at that moment, her feet were pulled out from under her, and she was on the ground, looking up at the beast. Her chest was heaving and blood was rushing in her ears so loud that she thought she must have imagined Georgiana scream, "No brother, stop!"

* * *

Women's voices. Two of them. _Georgiana and Mrs. Reynolds?_ He sniffed. Not Mrs. Reynolds. _Georgiana with a stranger? No!_ He left the clearing and hid himself in the woods so as not to be seen by the intruder. The pair were nearing the edge of the clearing when he heard Georgiana's voice. "We should not be here. We need to leave, now. I should have been more careful about the direction we were heading."

"Why, have we come in the wrong direction? Or is this the source of danger in Pemberley Woods?"

 _'Source of danger.' I'll show you never to come back here again._ He moved into position behind them.

"Then we shall be very quiet, my friend." The women turned, and he found himself eye to eye with hazel-green eyes that were wide with fright.

 _She's beautiful._

 _She's a stranger! She's dangerous!_

 _I need her in my arms. I need to be in-_

 _NO. You are still a gentleman, do not give in to these base thoughts. Get her away from Georgie._

He tried to strike her down, but in his distraction, she was too quick for him. The women had hidden behind a particularly wide tree. His instincts told him the hazel-green eyes were on his right. He quite literally swept her off her feet, his mind perversely returning to his mother's deathbed and the promise that he would love his future wife, and sweep her off her feet.

 _Are you proud, mother?_

He snorted his laughter at this thought. He would never have a wife now.

"No brother, stop!"

"Why? Who is she?" It was out of his mouth before he could stop it, before he could even realize the implications.

"She is my friend, Miss Elizabeth Bennet. You will _not_ hurt her, brother!" she said with more strength and confidence than she had the last time she'd visited him.

"Do you- do you mean this is your brother, Georgiana?" The woman, Miss Bennet, was still lying on the forest floor, as if she was afraid to move. But those hazel-green eyes were no longer wide with fright. They were narrowed in interest and intelligence. He swore.


	3. Chapter 2: Confronting the beast

**A/N: Thank you for all the kind reviews! I really really appreciate them! I will try to update somewhat regularly, but grad school is hard and I may not always have time.**

 _"Do you- do you mean this is your brother, Georgiana?"_

Lizzy looked between the beast and Georgiana while still lying as still as she could on the forest floor. They seemed to share a look before Georgiana stammered, "N-no, Elizabeth. Come. We must be going." She helped Elizabeth up from the ground. "You may need ice for your head, for you appear to have hit it badly."

"I did not!" she replied hotly. "If you could explain why this beast, who is apparently _not_ your brother, is still standing here, when moments ago he was attempting to kill me, I would be much obliged to you." Georgiana said nothing, her eyes wide. "And, if I'm not much mistaken, I did hear him speak English and you responded. Is that not right, Mr. Darcy?" she asked, rounding on the beast.

The beast looked startled, but glanced at Georgiana again, as if proving the connection to Elizabeth.

"I believe I now understand why it is so dangerous to have guests wandering the estate. It is not only for their well-being but your own! This is something out of a fairy-tale, I don't-" The blood rushed through her ears again, and she reached out to the tree for balance as her vision darkened.

* * *

 _This can't be happening. We've been so careful. Who is this woman that she can just walk through Pemberley Woods alone with Georgiana? Who LET her? I will kill Mrs. Reynolds if she let this happen._

 _No. Don't think that. What if you did kill her? How would you live with yourself?_

 _I can barely live with myself now._

"…hear him speak English and you responded. Is that not right, Mr. Darcy?"

 _WHAT? How does she know? No one knows. Georgiana? Did she tell?_

 _No, you know she loves you._

 _That doesn't mean-_

"Brother! We need to do something! Elizabeth has fainted!"

"What can we do? I have no smelling salts here, and you cannot go up to the house without her."

"Can we put her in your cave? Then we could talk about what we should do, and-"

"What we should _do_? Clearly we need to keep her at Pemberley so she won't tell anyone!" He straightened on his hind legs and attempted to gently pick up the woman with his front paws.

"But brother, she arrived with a party, a woman and a man were with her, I was escorting her to Lambton on foot with a detour through our grounds! What are we going to tell them?"

He placed the woman on his bed, if it could even be called that, and told his sister to make sure she was comfortable. "You will ask her to become your companion. This way we will not have to hire a new one every two months."

"And once I go to Town when I come out into society? When I become married? What then? We cannot keep her here forever!"

"Yes we can! And we will! We cannot trust that she will keep the secret!" He roared. Georgiana shrunk away from him, her face paler than usual in the dim cave light. "I will be outside if you have need of me."

He barely made it through the cave entrance when Georgiana called him back. "You know that we need to trust people. This all started with trust issues, it will not get better if we continue to distrust people. Elizabeth is the perfect person to start with."

"No. I will not trust someone I just met with the largest secret I have ever had."

The woman in his bed groaned and began to awaken. He was out of the cave in a flash, and tried not to growl aloud to release this strange buildup of emotions now swirling in his breast.

* * *

Lizzy opened her eyes again to a natural darkness. _Has it been so many hours that the sun has set? My Aunt and Uncle must be worried sick!_

"Elizabeth, you've awakened! How do you feel? Do you need anything?" Georgiana rushed to her side and knelt, taking her hand. She looked worried and upset. _Maybe I did fall and hit my head. Maybe I imagined the beast._

"Your brother?" she asked, deciding Georgiana's response would tell her the answer.

The other girl's face fell slightly. "He's outside."

 _Outside?_ Lizzy looked around. She realized she was lying on a slab of rock, and that she was in a cave. The cave on the side of the clearing, most likely. Further into the cave, there was something that looked like a pile of blankets, but otherwise it appeared to be an average cave, she guessed.

"I see. Well, I feel better now and as long as I don't see him again I feel that I should be able to make it back to the inn without fainting again. I shall, of course, tell no one, unless you wish to correspond with me about it. I would imagine it would comfort you to share this burden with someone." She stood up.

"You- you won't tell?"

"Of course not, and besides, who would believe me? A member of the _ton_ , turned into a beast? I would be put in Bedlam for sure."

Georgiana brightened considerably, and practically skipped to the mouth of the cave. "She won't tell, Fitzwilliam, she won't! She makes a fine argument that-" the girl stopped short, and Lizzy saw a large shadow surround the smaller one Georgiana cast.

"She _will_ tell. We have already discussed this."

Lizzy took a deep breath to steady herself, and stepped out of the cave. Before she had any chance to defend herself, the beast started to yell at her as well. "You're too smart for your own good! If you hadn't remembered or put together what was going on, you wouldn't be in this situation. But now, you'll stay with me forever."

"Excuse me? If you had not spoken English I would not have had any pieces to put together _, sir_ , and I refuse to marry you. I will walk back to my Aunt and Uncle now. Good day." She had only taken one step when the beast closed in on her. She had no chance of escape.

"I refuse to marry you too. You will be Georgie's new companion. And after Georgie is married, you will be my new housekeeper. You are not to leave the house. You will not write letters. You will not go anywhere off the estate without Georgiana by your side at all times. Do you understand?"

"I am sure you will understand me when I tell you that my Aunt and Uncle will come looking for me, beginning with your very mansion."

"Then they may find themselves in dire straits on my property when their carriage wheel breaks and a beast attacks them."

She heard Georgiana gasp, but she herself was feeling faint again. To faint twice in one day, nay, in but an hour, was unreasonable. She had to fight to keep herself upright as her mind swirled with thoughts. She would never see Jane or her father again. She would never see any of her family or friends, or walk on Oakham Mount, she would not be able to talk to anyone. But she could not let her Aunt and Uncle be attacked. She took a deep breath and made up her mind.

"I will come with you. In order to ease my Aunt and Uncle's minds, I request that I be allowed to write to tell them of my new position in your household. They may want to have tea with your sister and I tomorrow to confirm that I am happy here, and to bring my trunk. Unless you can think of another solution without resorting to violence?"

 **A/N: Thank you very much for reading! We'll find out what happened to Darcy in the next chapter, I promise!**


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